Henry Pike (Bowman, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Our hospitals are caring for many people who should not be there—not because they're unwell, not because they require acute medical treatment, but because they have nowhere else for them to go. In my community of the Redlands, 60 elderly men and women are stuck in hospital beds they simply do not need. They are medically fit for discharge and their treatment is complete, but they remain in acute wards designed for the critically unwell because there are no aged-care beds available to take them.

This is being repeated in hospitals across Queensland and right across the country. These Australians are stranded because of a shortage of aged-care and disability placement beds—a shortage that sits squarely within the responsibility of the federal Labor government. These people should be in dedicated facilities where they can receive proper support. Instead, they are confined to acute hospital wards for no reason other than a system that has failed to provide them an alternative.

Warwick, from Victoria Point, wrote to me recently to share the story of his wife. His wife was admitted to Redland Hospital in early September and remains there today—not because she needs hospital-level care but because no aged-care placements are available. Despite completing the entire My Aged Care application process and meeting all the requirements, Warwick has been confronted with an impossible choice—selling the family home to have a chance of securing a place for his wife. Right now, it appears his wife will be forced to stay in hospital indefinitely.

Let me be clear about the scale of this issue. According to the GEN Aged Care report from March 2025, Australia has around 223,000 residential aged-care places spread across 2,600 facilities. On top of that, we have more than 299,000 Australians receiving a home-care package, but Senate estimates in October revealed that over 120,000 people are still waiting for the level of care they have already been approved for. National Seniors Australia reports that the longest delays are for those needing level 3 and level 4 high-care packages.

Australians needing the most help are waiting 12 to 15 months, sometimes longer, for support that has already been assessed as essential. When an elderly person can't get a home-care package, when a bed in a residential aged-care facility isn't available, when a provider can't staff the beds they have, there is nowhere else to stay but the hospital. Yet every one of these occupied beds has consequences. It places additional strain on nurses, doctors and allied health professionals who are already working under enormous pressure. It adds to the growing queues of families waiting for their loved ones to receive essential surgery. It affects every person who dials triple 0 only to find ambulances ramped outside hospitals with no available beds. The Albanese Labor government are failing older Redlanders and older Australians across our entire country.

Earlier this year, the coalition had to shame the government into releasing 83,000 additional home-care places that they promised and that should have been available from 1 July—yet by September not a single extra place had been delivered. It was months of secrecy, broken promises and a waiting list that had blown out to more than 108,000, which is a 400 per cent increase in just two years. Their explanation? That the sector wasn't ready. But that claim simply wasn't true. Providers, peak bodies and advocacy organisations all made it clear that they were ready and willing to deliver care. After days of sustained questioning, the coalition forced Labor to back down and release 20,000 long-delayed home-care packages immediately, with a commitment to release the full 83,000 by the end of the financial year. It was only after the coalition exposed the inaction of the government that they finally began releasing the in-home care packages that Australian seniors desperately needed.

One local Redlands resident—Michael, from Birkdale—wrote to me about the severe delays in receiving his approved level 2 home-care package. He described the government as 'incompetent and heartless'. Sadly, his experience echoes what many older Australians are facing. Victoria from Capalaba contacted my office questioning: What happens to the forgotten ones who need help but cannot access it? Matt from Cleveland wrote to me about the My Aged Care system, advocating on behalf of his parents. He wrote, 'It's absolutely disgraceful it has taken over 12 months to get to the stage where my parents were approved for a level 2 and now at least a further six months for the government to release the funds.'

It's time to call it out again. Our communities deserve better, our healthcare workers deserve better and, above all, older Australians deserve the dignity, certainty and appropriate care that they deserve.

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